ISLAM 

A>"D 


BY  ^ ' 

REV.  JAMES  S.  'IdENNIS,  D.D., 


PROP^SSOn  OP  THEOLOGY  IS  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEHISAIiT  07  THE  AMB"ICAS  PR'^SBYTEIUAN 

MISStOS,  BKIK'JT,  STRIA. 


3=^eprix5.ted.  frosa.  Tlie  ILv£issloaa,ry  ^3'vle‘w  of  tlio 
"V^orlca.  for  .A-v-grcLst,  1S33. 


NEW  YORK : 

FUNK  & .WAGNALLS, 

1 8 AND  20  Astor  Place. 

i88o. 


I 


V.  * 


ISLAM 


AND 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS, 


BY  /' 

REV.  JAMES  S.  IdENNIS,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIAN 

MISSION,  BEIRUT,  SYRIA. 


I?,eprirLted.  frozn.  Tlze  ^v^issiozza,  r3r  I^eN7-ieTi;r  of  tlze 
■'^XT'orld.  for  -A.'u.g'ia.st,  1SS3. 


NEW  YORK : 

FUNK  & WAGNALLS, 

1 8 AND  20  Astor  Place. 

1889. 


NOTE  BY  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  REVIEW  OF  THE  WORLD 
(ACCOMPANYING  THE  ARTICLE  AS  PRINTED  IN  THE  REVIEW). 


We  are  requested  to  withhold  the  name  of  the  writer  of  this  able  and  timely 
article.  We  regret  the  necessity,  as  the  name  would  be  sure  to  command  a 
wide  and  considerate  reading  of  it.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  that  the  writer  has 
long  enjoyed  the  very  best  opportunities  for  studying  the  system  discussed  in 
the  light  of  its  historical  development  and  results. 


Introductory  Note. 


Ix  view  of  the  present  attitude  of  the  Moslem  authorities  in  tlie  Turkish  Empire 
to  Christian  missions,  and  the  strained  relations  between  them  and  existing  mis- 
sionary agencies,  and  their  watchful  surveillance  of  even  the  foreign  press  to  secure 
if  possible  the  evidence  which  will  enable  them  to  make  out  a case  against  the 
Ameiican  missionary  and  his  work  as  inimical  to  the  welfare  of  the  Mohammedan 
state  and  injurious  to  the  moral  and  religious  prestige  of  Islam,  it  was  thought  by 
the  writer  to  be  the  part  of  prudence  to  print  this  article  in  the  “ Missionary  Re- 
view ot  the  World”  without  announcing  its  source  as  from  a resident  missionary  in 
Syria.  It  seems  unwise  needlessly  to  provoke  and  alarm  a powerful  antagonist,  or 
unnecessarily  to  imperil  a precious  work  which  has  been  pushed  to  its  present  suc- 
cess by  a large  outlay  in  labor  and  expense.  Nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  the  formal 
and  open  proclamation  on  the  part  of  the  missionary  in  the  East  of  the  fact  that 
Chi'istianity  is  to  overthrow  Islam,  or  that  this  is  the  end  he  has  in  view.  An  an- 
nouncement of  this  kind  would  place  the  missionary  in  what  the  Moslem  would 
consider  a pronounced  attitude  of  enmity  to  both  State  and  Church  in  the  Ottoman 
Empire.  It  is  rather  the  part  ot  w’isdom  and  fidelity  for  the  ambassador  of  Christ 
to  go  on  teaching  and  preaching  the  truth  as  his  Master  has  given  it  to  him,  and  let 
his  Master  take  care  of  results.  The  results  themselves  will  prove  in  time  the  suffi- 
cient proclamation  of  the  mission  of  Christianity.  It  is  requested,  therefore,  that  so 
far  as  the  public  prints  are  concerned  the  writer’s  incognito  should  be  cai’efullj’  ob- 
served, and  that  even  his  connection  with  the  missionary  work  in  the  East  should 
not  be  referred  to. 

A few  copies  of  the  article  have  been  struck  off  with  his  name  upon  the  title  page 
for  private  distribution  among  personal  fi’iends.  He  begs  the  attention  of  all  who 
may  receive  this  pamphlet  to  the  subject  discussed,  with  the  earnest  hope  that  the 
coming  struggle  between  Islam  and  Christianity  may  find  the  Christian  public 
avvake  to  the  serious  and  subtle  issues  involved  in  the  conflict,  and  prepared  to  re- 
ject all  muddled  and  bungling  attempts  at  compromise  with  a view  toplacing  Islam 
in  S5'mnathetic  relations  with  biblical  truth,  and  classing  it  as  embryonic  Christian- 
ity— an  integral  part  of  the  divine  religion  God  has  given  to  man.  Islam,  although 
it  has  seized  upon  one  great  truth  of  revelation  and  holds  it  with  others  of  lesser 
note  as  a noble  captive  caught  in  a wild  foray  into  the  spiritual  desert  of  seventh 
century  religion  in  Arabia,  is  as  a religious  sj’stem  only  and  merely  human,  and 
needs  be  taught  of  God.  It  would  be  the  most  pitiable  weakness  and  folly  for  the 
Church  of  Christ  to  sit  down  with  Islam  and  attempt  to  recast  and  readjust  the 
truths  of  God’s  Word  to  suit  the  inner  consciousness  of  an  Oriental  constituency. 
Let  it  be  the  firm  purpose  and  only  aim  of  the  Church  to  give  the  pure  and  saving 
gospel  to  the  Moslem  world  as  God  opens  the  way  in  his  own  time. 

Protestant  missions  in  the  Turkish  Empire  as  yet  have  hardly  assumed  any  ag- 
gressive attitude  towards  Moslems,  nor  have  they  undertaken  directly  and  actively  to 
carr^’  on  evangelistic  work  among  them.  Under  existing  circumstances  this  wmuld 
be  nothing  less  than  a revolutionary  movement  of  the  most  radical  and  dangerous 
character.  In  a more  quiet  and  unnoticed  way  through  the  circulation  ot  the  Rible 
and  religious  books,  tracts,  and  newspapei’s,  and  the  education  of  Moslem  children, 
and  the  establishment  of  Protestant  churches  free  from  the  superstitions  and  idola- 
trous practices  of  Oriental  Christianity,  and  the  general  impulse  given  to  free 
thought  and  inquiry,  a new  spirit  is  being  awakened  among  Moslems.  A wide 
spread  desire  for  light  is  abroad  among  them ; secret  convictions  control  many 


4 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


hearts  whose  true  attitude  towards  Christ  and  the  Bible  is  not  suspected;  many  are 
longing  for  religious  liberty  ; many  are  praying  for  guidance  and  strength  amidst 
overshadowing  and  appalling  difficulties  in  the  path  of  open  and  sincere  confession. 
They  are  for  the  first  time  in  their  history  beginning  to  see  Christianity  to  advan- 
tage, and  to  recognize  it  in  its  pure  and  spiritual  as  distinguished  from  its  apostate 
form. 

This  transforming  and  leavening  process  of  thought  in  such  a mighty  and  com- 
pact mass  as  Islam  defies  all  attempt  at  description,  and  eludes  all  effort  to  formu- 
late it  in  statistics.  Everything  in  this  region  of  indirect  missionary  work  is  tenta- 
tive, intangible,  preparatorj' ; results  are  in  a state  of  solution  ; spiritual  forces  are 
hiding  in  awakened  hearts ; conviction  lies  in  ambush  and  bides  its  time  ; the  silent 
praj'er,  the  patient  hope,  the  quiet  hour  with  the  Bible,  the  conscious  thrill  of  a new 
found  liberty  of  conscience — prudently  concealed  and  carefully  restrained  as  j’et — 
perhaps  the  touch  of  faith  upon  the  hem  of  Christ’s  garment  in  the  case  of  some  un- 
noticed ones  in  the  surging  throng,  are  the  only  signs  of  the  presence  of  the  living 
gosjiel.  God  is  merciful  to  those  who  “ wait  for  the  morning”  while  yet  unable  to 
break  altogether  from  their  spntual  bondage.  Many  a soul  sings  its  song  of  deliv- 
erance in  the  silence  and  seclusion  of  its  own  heart's  sanctuar}'  before  the  voice  of 
the  multitude  can  be  heard  around  tlie  shrine  of  a larger  and  wider  national  free- 
dom. 

America — where  God  has  made  the  consciences  of  all  men  free — is  to  furnish,  I 
firmly  believe,  a large  part  of  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  forces  which  will  secure, 
when  God’s  time  comes,  the  blessing  of  religious  liberty  to  the  Moslem  world.  God 
will  work  with  other  and  sterner  agencies,  as  history  testifies;  diplomacy  does  His 
bidding,  and  armies  are  His  servants.  But  the  preparation  of  a race  for  the  appre- 
ciation and  proper  use  of  freedom,  and  the  provision  of  the  religious  and  educational 
facilities  for  the  growth  and  culture  of  natures  introduced  into  new  regions  of 
thought,  and  to  fresh  revelations  of  truth,  and  unfamiliar  relations  to  the  Deity,  are 
spheres  of  service  second  to  none  which  God  can  commission  one  nation  to  do  for 
another.  Let  the  Church  of  Christ  be  patient,  as  she  can  well  afford  to  be.  This 
sublime  task  will  require  a large  outlay  of  sacrifice  and  labor,  and  may  cost  a strug- 
gle which  will  tax  the  faith  and  fortitude  of  Christianity.  There  are  already’  abun- 
dant indications  that  Islam  will  make  strenuous  endeavors  to  maintain  its  ascenden- 
C3’,  and  will  resist  vigorously  every  attempt  which  Christianity  may  make  to  break 
its  ranks.  Protestant  mission  work  in  the  Turkish  Empire  is,  and  has  been  from 
the  beginning,  lai’gely  in  the  hands  of  American  missionaries.  Syria — and  I may 

say  the  entire  Turkish  Empire — is  the  hottest  fighting  ground  in  the  whole  battle 
field  of  the  Church  militant.  Islam,  with  its  political  and  military  supreniacj',  and 
Oriental  Christianity  with  its  vigilant  and  powerful  hierarchy  are  in  common  antag- 
onism to  evangelical  missions,  which  have  entered  the  Orient  as  the  champion  of 
biblical  truth  and  the  advocate  of  liberal  education.  Into  this  historic  field,  which 
calls  for  a heroic  measure  of  faith,  patience,  fortitude,  and  sacrifice,  God  has  called 
our  American  churches  to  enter.  The  West,  in  its  happy  career  of  prosperity 
and  progress,  must  not  forget  the  East,  whence  came  the  sweetest  and  noblest 
forces  of  our  social  and  religious  life.  There  must  be  no  Monroe  doctrine  in  Ameri- 
can Christianity  bidding  us  hold  aloof  from  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  struggles  of 
the  Oriental  world.  A clarion  call  speaking  as  never  man  spake,  with  an  authority 
which  none  can  question,  comes  to  us  out  of  the  East  with  the  dawn  of  Christian 
history — “Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.”  This 
is  the  earliest  as  it  is  the  latest  message  of  the  skies  to  the  followers  of  “ His  star 
in  the  East.”  This  is  the  message  of  the  hour. 

With  cordial  and  fraternal  greetings. 

The  Author. 

64  Pars  Place,  Newark,  New  Jersey. 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


Human'  religions  are  compared  in  the  Bible  to  ‘‘broken  cisterns, 
that  can  hold  no  ■water.”  God  is  Himself  the  source  of  all  true 
religion,  and  in  contrast  with  “ broken  cisterns,”  in  this  same  verse 
(Jer.  ii:  13),  is  compared  to  a “Fountain  of  living  waters.”  All 
human  systems  of  religion  are  not  only  incapable  of  producing  living 
water,  but,  like  “broken  cisterns,”  they  will  hold  no  water.  They  are 
not  simply  on  a lower  level  of  wisdom  and  power  than  the  divine  re- 
ligion, but  as  religions  they  are  failures,  incapable  of  holding  in  any 
helpful  and  saving  way  even  the  modicum  of  truth  which  they  may 
have  in  solution,  and  wholly  unable  to  provide  tlie  soul  of  man  with 
the  living  water  which  will  quench  his  thirst. 

Our  subject  invites  our  attention  to  a religious  faith  which,  although 
it  may  be  classed  as  a “broken  cistern,”  has  had  a marvelous  history, 
and  to-day  dominates  the  minds  and  hearts  of  millions  of  our  fellow- 
men  in  the  Orient.  AYe  mean  Islam,  or  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 
Here  the  thought  will  perhaps  occur  to  many.  Is  it  not  taking  too  much 
for  granted  to  rank  Mohammedanism  among  merely  human  religions  ? 
It  has  been  the  faith  of  a vast  number  of  our  fellow-men,  who  have 
been  singularly  loyal  and  intense  in  their  devotion  to  it,  and  has  held 
its  own  with  extraordinary  tenacity,  while  its  central  truth  has  ever 
been  the  acknowledgment  of  God’s  existence  and  supremacy.  This  is 
all  true,  and  Islam  must  have  the  credit  of  it.  There  is  probably  no 
religion,  not  confessedly  based  upon  the  facts  recorded  in  the  Bible, 
which  has  such  a satisfying  element  of  truth  in  its  creed  and  presents 
such  a conception  of  a personal  and  supreme  God  as  Islam.  As 
compared  with  idolatry  it  is  an  immeasurably  nobler  form  of  worship. 
As  contrasted  with  the  metaphysical  vagaries  of  other  Oriental 
religions  it  is  doctrinally  helpful.  It  is,  however,  simply  the  old 
monotheism  of  the  ancient  .Jewish  religion  projected  into  the  Christian 
ages  with  the  divine  environment  of  Judaism  left  out  and  a human 
environment  substituted.  “ There  is  no  God  but  God,”  was  the  creed 


6 


IS^AM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


of  the  Jew  long  before  the  Moslem  proclaimed  it.  Mohammed  and 
his  followers  adopted  it,  apparently  in  utter  unconsciousness, 
or  rather  in  supercilious  rejection  of  its  historic  environment 
under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  and  brought  it  into  line 
as  the  leading  truth  of  a human  scheme  of  religion.  They  rejected  its 
historic  development  in  the  Incarnation,  acknowledged  Christ  simply 
as  one  of  the  prophets,  supplemented  and  in  almost  every  respect 
superseded  Him  by  another,  and  making  Mohammed  the  central  per- 
sonality, they  established  the  Mohammedan  religion  as  the  latest 
and  best  revelation  from  heaven — a religion  whose  right  it  was  to 
reign,  and  whose  prerogative  it  was  to  supplant  and  annihilate  every 
other  religion,  and  especially  Christianity. 

We  cannot  undertake  in  the  limits  of  this  article  to  bring  for- 
ward the  evidences  that  Mohammedanism  as  a spiritual  system  must 
be  considered  a “broken  cistern,”  nor  can  we  undertake  to  present 
the  evidence  furnished  by  the  present  state  of  the  ^loslem  world,  that 
as  a religion  it  is  futile  and  powerless  as  an  ujilifting  agency.  It 
would  absorb  too  much  of  our  space,  and  lead  us  away  from  the  main 
purpose  we  have  in  view.  We  must  be  content  to  rest  the  verdict  as 
to  its  alien  birth  and  false  credentials  upon  one  single  consideration, 
which  for  our  purposes  at  the  present  time  should  be  sufficient  to  carry 
conviction.  “What  think  ye  of  Christ?”  is  here,  as  elsewhere,  a test 
question.  The  Mohammedan  religion,  ivhile  acknowledging  Christ  as 
one  of  the  prophets,  yet  denies  that  he  is  anything  more  flian  one  of 
the  prophets.  His  unique  position  as  God  in  the  flesh — the  Messiah 
of  prophecy,  the  Redeemer  of  men,  the  heaven-sent  Mediator,  the 
divinely-appointed  victim  of  an  atoning  sacrifice,  the  Projihet,  Priest 
and  King  of  a redeemed  Israel,  the  risen  Lord  and  the  ascended  Inter- 
cessor, the  only  name  given  among  men,  is  boldly  <and  defiantly  denied 
and  repudiated  by  the  Moslem.  The  office,  and  work,  and  dignity  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  are  also  rejected.  In  place  of  the  divine  Christ  and  the 
life-giving  Holy  Spirit,  we  have  a conception  of  God  which  is  but  an 
imperfect  and  misleading  reproduction  of  the  earliest  Jewish  idea,  and 
is  cold  and  bald  and  stern,  without  the  tenderness  of  fatherhood  or  the 
sweet  ministries  of  pity — for,  after  all,  divine  mercy  in  the  view  of  the 
Moslem  is  quite  as  much  of  the  nature  of  a deserved  reward  as  of  a com- 
passionate ministry  ; it  is  a reproduction,  through  a piireH  human 
channel,  in  an  environment  of  ignorance,  of  the  earliest  revelation  of  a 
Supreme  Being.  This  distorted  reflection  of  the  primitive  teachings  of 
religion  about  the  Deity  is  still  further  marred  and  shadowed  by  making 
Mohammed  His  greatest  prophet  and  the  Koran  His  final  and  consum- 
mate revelation  to  man.  The  result  as  compared  with  Christianity  is 
a notable  failure  on  a merely  human  plane  of  religious  thought,  yet 
with  enough  of  the  light  of  heaven  borrowed  and  misused  to  deceive 
the  conscience  and  lead  an  ignorant  Oriental  constituency  to  accept  it 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


7 


as  a revelation  from  heaven,  and  Mohammed  as  a prophet  sent  of  God. 
An  intelligent  Christian  faith  can  pronounce  but  one  judgment  upon 
this  question.  After  recognizing  every  element  of  truth  which  Islam 
has  borrowed  from  Judaism  or  Christianity,  it  must  pronounce  it  lack- 
ing in  the  essentials  of  saving  religion  as  we  find  them  in  God’s  Word. 
What  is  included  in  Moslem  doctrine  is  valuable,  but  what  is  7iot  there 
is  essential.  The  modicum  of  truth  is  lost  in  the  maximum  of  error. 
A counterfeit  coin  may  have  some  grains  of  pure  metal  in  it,  but  its 
entire  make-up  is  none  the  less  a deception,  and  it  must  be  con- 
demned. So  Mohammedanism  must  be  condemned,  not  because  it 
does  not  contain  any  truth,  but  because  the  truth  is  so  mixed  ivith 
superabounding  alloy  that'in  the  combination  it  has  lost  its  virtue  and 
has  become  simply  an  ingredient  of  a compound  which,  on  the  whole, 
must  be  regarded  as  false  metal.  One  truth  mixed  in  with  twenty 
errors  will  not  make  a resultant  of  truth,  especially  if  the  twenty 
errors  are  in  direct  opposition  to  other  truths  as  essential  as  the  one 
included.  If  we  extend  our  survey  over  the  whole  field  of  Moslem 
doctrine  and  practice  the  conviction  becomes  irresistible  that  its 
moral  influence  in  the  world  has  been  harmful,  and  its  spiritual  re- 
sults have  brought  to  man  nothing  higher  than  formalism  and  self- 
righteousness.  Satan  is  represented  as  sometimes  “ transformed  into 
an  angel  of  light.”  Islam,  as  a religious  system,  may  be  regarded  as 
playing  the  part  of  “ an  angel  of  light  ” among  the  religions  of  the  world. 

Mohammedanism  isa  profound  theme,  and  one  which  has  occupied  the 
minds  of  many  accomplished  scholars.  It  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
patient  research  and  careful  thought  by  some  of  the  greatest  students 
of  history.  Dr.  Johnson  once  remarked  that  “there  are  two  objects 
of  curiosity — the  Christian  world  and  the  Mohammedan  world  ; all 
the  rest  may  be  considered  as  barbarous.”  The  subject  is  worthy  of  a 
careful  examination,  both  for  its  own  sake  as  one  of  the  enigmas  of 
religious  history,  and  also  to  prepare  our  minds  for  an  intelligent  un- 
derstanding of  the  amazing  task  to  which  God  is  leading  the  church, 
viz. : the  conversion  of  the  Moslem  world  to  Christianity.  The  duty 
of  Christianity  to  Mohammedanism,  the  enormous  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  discharging  it,  the  historic  grandeur  of  the  conflict,  the 
way  in  which  the  honor  of  Christ  is  involved  in  the  result,  and  the 
brilliant  issues  of  victory  all  combine  to  make  this  problem  of  the 
true  relation  of  Christian  missions  to  Islam  one  of  the  most  fas- 
cinating and  momentous  themes  which  the  great  missionary  move- 
ment of  the  present  century  has  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
Christian  church.  The  number  of  Moslems  in  the  world  is  given  in 
the  latest  statistical  tables  as  200,000,000.  This  is  possibly  too  high 
an  estimate,  but  we  may  safely  fix  the  figure  at  not  less  than  180,000,- 
000.  They  are  chiefly  in  Western  Asia,  India,  and  Africa,  with  a few 
in  Southeastern  Europe.  It  may  be  roughly  estimated  that  the  total 


8 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


number  of  tliose  ivlio  have  lived  and  died  in  the  Moslem  faith  since 
its  establishment  is  over  6,000,000,000 — a number  equivalent  to  nearly 
five  times  the  present  population  of  the  globe.  Of  this  vast  number  a 
large  proportion  have,  of  course,  died  in  infancy.  We  are  dealing,  there- 
fore, with  the  religious  faith  of  about  one-seventh  of  the  human  race. 
It  cannot  be  regarded  as  a stagnant  and  effete  religion,  unaggressive  in 
spirit  and  powerless  to  inspire  devotion  and  sacrifice.  It  is  to-day 
probably  the  most  pushing,  aggressive,  and  formidable  foe  to  Chris- 
tianity on  foreign  mission  ground.  It  is  historically  true,  I think,  that 
never  has  Christianity  been  called  upon  to  face  a more  thoroughly 
equipped  and  a more  desperately  determined  foe  than  Islam  ; never  ha- 
our  heaven-sent  gospel  received  a more  defiant  challenge  than  that 
given  it  by  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  Church  of  Christ  seriously  to  consider 
her  duty  to  this  large  fraction  of  our  race.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  a church  guided  and  inspired  by  an  Almighty  Leader  will  neglect 
a duty  simjily  because  it  is  difficult  and  calls  for  faith  and  fortitude. 
It  is  especially  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  American  Christianity  to  slight 
a task  because  it  is  hard,  or  ignore  a question  of  moral  reform  or  re- 
ligious responsibility  because  it  looks  formidable.  Let  us  endeavor, 
then,  calmly  to  consider  the  duty  of  Christian  missions  to  the  Moslems. 
Is  there  a duty  of  this  kind?  If  so,  what  special  difficulties  must  be 
overcome  in  order  to  its  successful  accomplishment;  what  should  be 
our  aim  ; and  what  is  the  spirit  which  should  inspire  and  govern  us  in 
the  proper  discharge  of  it? 

The  duty  seems  plain — “Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature.”  The  gospel  of  Christ,  not  of  Mohammed — 
to  every  creature,  because  all  need  the  gospel.  If  there  were  a pos- 
sibility of  a human  substitute  for  the  gospel,  we  might  consider  it  an 
open  question  whether  salvation  is  of  ^lohammed  ; but  Christ  has 
taught  us  one  way  of  salvation  for  all  men,  and  that  way  is  through 
Him — through  the  merits  of  Ilis  sacrifice,  and  not  through  works  or 
worthiness  in  man.  I would  not  be  understood  as  implying  here  that 
every  Moslem  is  necessarily  lost.  If  he  despises  and  rejects  Christ, 
and  puts  his  sole  trust  in  Mohammed,  or  even  trusts  in  divine  mercy 
because  that  mercy  is  his  due  as  a Moslem,  I should  not  feel  that  there 
was  a substantial  basis  of  hope  for  him.  lie  is  looking  to  a human  sav- 
iour, or  he  is  simply  claiming  the  divine  mercy  as  a subsidy  to  the  Mos- 
lem religion.  I can  conceive,  however,  of  a Mohammedan  while  formally 
adhering  to  his  religion,  in  reality  taking  such  an  attitude  of  heart  to 
Christ  that  he  may  receive  mercy  and  pardon  for  Christ’s  sake, 
though  he  is  not  openly  enrolled  on  the  side  of  Christ.  God  alone  can 
judge  and  pronounce  when  a soul  takes  that  attitude  of  humility  and 
faith  towards  Uis  Son,  or  where  His  Son  is  not  known,  towards  His 
infinite  mercy,  which  will  open  the  way  for  Him  to  apply  the  merits  of 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


9 


Christ’s  atonement  to  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  AVliere  Christ  is 
known  and  recognized  we  have  no  margin  of  hope  outside  of  a full  and 
conscious  acceptance  of  Him.  In  pi-oportion  as  God  has  left  the  souls 
of  men  in  ignorance  and  darkness  about  Christ,  in  that  proportion 
may  we  enlarge  the  margin  of  hope  that  His  infinite  mercy  will  find 
the  way  to  respond  to  conscious  penitence  and  humble  trust  by  freely 
granting  and  applying  the  boundless  merits  of  Christ’s  sacrifice  to  a 
soul  truly  seeking  after  Him.  We  understand  the  Bible  to  teach  that 
all  opportunity  of  accepting  the  gospel  is  limited  to  life  this  side  of 
the  grave,  and  that  there  is  no  probation  or  renewed  opportunity 
beyond  our  earthly  existence.  It  is  also  clearly  taught  in  the  Bible 
that  salvation  is  not  of  works  nor  of  external  adherence  to  any  sect. 
The  Jew  was  not  saved  because  he  was  a Jew.  The  Christian  is  not 
saved  because  he  is  a Christian.  The  Moslem,  of  course,  cannot  be 
saved  because  he  is  a Moslem.  All  who  may  be  saved  outside  of 
formal  and  visible  connection  with  Christianity,  will  be  saved  because 
of  a real  and  invisible  connection  with  Christ.  They  will  have  ob- 
tained consciously,  or  unconsciously,  by  the  aid  of  God’s  Spirit,  that  at- 
titude of  humility  and  trust  toward  God  which  Avill  make  it  consistent 
with  His  character  and  in  harmony  with  His  wisdom  and  goodness  to  im- 
part to  their  souls  the  free  gift -of  pardon  through  Christ’s  merits,  and 
apply  to  them  in  the  gladness  of  Ilis  love  the  benefits  of  Christ’s  death. 
It  is  in  any  case  salvation  by  gift,  received  from  God’s  mercy,  and  based 
upon  Christ’s  atonement,  and  not  by  Avorks  or  by  reason  of  human  merit. 
We  claim,  therefore,  that  the  Mohammedan,  as  such,  needs  the 
knoAvledge  of  Christ,  and  can  only  be  saved  through  Christ.  He  needs 
to  be  taught  Christianity  and  brought  into  the  light  of  Bible  truth. 
He  needs  to  recognize  the  dangerous  errors  of  his  religion  and  turn  to 
Christianity  as  the  true  light  from  heaven.  He  needs  to  take  a 
radically  different  and  essentially  new  attitude  toAvards  Christ.  He 
needs  spiritual  regeneration  and  moral  reformation.  In  one  Avord,  he 
needs  the  gospel.  He  needs  all  its  lessons,  and  all  its  help,  and  all  its 
inspiration.  Here  Ave  rest  the  question  of  duty.  If  any  class  of  men 
need  the  gospel,  to  them  it  should  bo  given,  and  it  is  our  mission  in 
the  Avorld  as  Christians  to  do  this. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  consider  the  special  difficulties  of  mission  Avork 
among  Moslems.  That  there  are  serious  and  formidable  difficulties  is 
not  simply  the  A'erdict  of  the  literary  student  or  the  historical  theo- 
logian, but  it  is  a matter  of  experience.  All  missionaries  in  Moslem 
communities  recognize  this,  and  there  is  hardly  a problem  in  theAvhole 
range  of  mission  service  which  is  a severer  tax  upon  faith  and  courage 
and  Avisdom  than  that  involved  in  the  effort  to  Avin  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity from  Islam.  It  is  necessary  to  a full  understanding  of  this 
phase  of  our  subject  that  Ave  should  secure  if  possible  an  inside  view  of 
the  strength  and  resources  of  the  Mohammedan  faith.  Let  us  en- 


10 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


deavoi’  to  take  the  measure  of  our  foe.  Let  us  ask  whence  the  power 
and  prestige  and  influence  of  Islam.  What  is  its  secret  of  success? 
What  makes  it  a force  which  so  easily  dominates  the  religious  life  of  so 
many  millions?  What  gives  it  its  aggressive  push  and  its  staying 
power  ? It  is  comparatively  easy  to  show  the  immense  inferiority  of 
Islam  to  Christianity  in  the  essential  points  of  true  religion,  especially 
those  of  practical  morality.  It  is,  however,  for  this  very  reason  all  the 
more  difficult  to  give  a satisfactory  explanation  of  its  successes,  and 
show  why  Christianity  is  so  slow  in  coping  with  it  effectively.  Islam  has 
arisen,  within  the  pale,  so  to  speak,  of  Christianity.  It  has  overrun  and 
held  ground  which  is  historically  Christian.  Its  great  conflict  has  been 
largely  with  ChristianitjL  It  now  occupies  regions  which  were  the 
scene  of  the  earliest  triumphs  of  the  Christian  church.  Christianity, 
to  be  sure,  has  held  its  own  in  a marvelous  way  in  the  ancient  Oriental 
Christian  sects  which  have  held  to  their  Christian  faith  in  the  very 
centres  of  the  Moslem  domination.  Their  influence,  however,  has  been 
simply  negative.  The  part  they  have  played  has  been  that  of  resistance 
and  stubborn  adherence  to  the  external  symbols  of  Christianity.  They 
have  never  succeeded,  for  good  reasons,  in  impressing  the  Moslem  with 
the  superiority  of  the  Christian  religion.  We  must  not  fail,  how’ever, 
to  give  them  the  credit  they  deserve,  and  to  recognize  God’s  wonder- 
ful providence  in  preserving  them  to  be  the  medium  of  introducing 
through  Protestant  missionary  effort  a pure  and  spiritual  form  of 
Christianity  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Moslem  world. 

The  question  recurs  to  us — Whence  the  success  of  Islam?  We  mean 
its  success,  not  as  a saving  religion,  but  in  winning  and  holding  its 
devotees  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Christian  centuries.  There  are  some 
considerations  which  throw  light  upon  this  point,  and  if  we  give  them 
a few  moments  of  patient  attention  they  may  help  to  lift  the  burden  of 
this  great  mystery,  and  at  the  same  time  will  bring  to  our  attention 
more  clearly  the  full  meaning  of  the  task  we  have  before  us  in  conquer- 
ing Islam  for  Christ  with  the  spiritual  weapons  of  the  gospel.  It  is 
not  my  purpose,  and  it  is,  moreover,  clearly  impossible  to  attempt  here 
any  full  or  critical  survey  of  Mohammedanism.  This  would  require  a 
volume,  and  the  gifts  and  learning  of  the  careful  student  of  Oriental 
history.  What  I have  to  offer,  however,  towards  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  Mohammedan  success  will  be  the  result  of  a patient  study 
of  the  subject  in  connection  with  unusual  opportunities  for  personal 
observation  of  the  intellectual,  social  and  religious  life  of  Moslems. 

Islam  is  a living  power — a strong  and  vigorous  moral  force  among 
Orientals  for  several  reasons,  and  with  all  of  these  Christianity  must 
reckon  if  she  is  to  win  her  way.  We  will  name  them  in  order  : 

I.  In  its  origin,  and  also  in  its  subsequent  history,  Mohammedanism 
represents  the  spirit  of  reform  working  under  the  inspiration  of 
a great  truth.  Mohammed  appears  upon  the  stage  of  history  as  a 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


11 


religious  reformer.  In  the  earh’  period  of  his  career  lie  was  influenced 
no  doubt  by  sincere  motives.  His  purpose  was  to  inaugurate  a religious 
revolution — a revolt  against  the  idolatry  which  prevailed  in  Arabia 
The  heathenism  of  his  day  was  gross  idolatry ; and  the  Christianity 
of  that  age  in  the  Orient  was  little  better  in  its  superstitious  and  idol- 
atrous practices.  It  was  the  era  of  the  iconoclast  even  within  the  cir- 
cle of  professed  Christianity.  It  was  the  purpose  of  Mohammed  to 
re-establish  among  men  a spiritual  worship  of  the  one  God — to 
demolish  forever  the  Arabian  Pantheon.  The  unity  and  spirituality 
of  the  Supreme  Being  were  basis  ideas  in  his  religious  creed, 
and  he  advocated  direct  communion  with  God  in  prayer  and 
worship,  and  the  utter  rejection  of  idolatry,  which  in  his  age  was  equiv- 
alent to  polytheism.  This  movement  was  certainly  a remarkable  one 
when  we  consider  the  times  and  the  environment  out  of  which  it 
sprung.  Had  it  been  inspired  and  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
founded  upon  the  revealed  Word,  with  a divinely  called  and  sanctified 
leader,  we  might  have  seen  the  great  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury anticipated  in  the  seventh. 

The  power  and  prestige  of  Mohammed  were  due  to  the  fact  that 
men  soon  believed  him  to  be  a prophet  sent  of  God,  and  his  mes- 
sage was  to  such  an  extent  in  the  name  and  to  the  honor  of  God  that 
his  commission  seemed  to  be  genuine.  In  an  age  of  abject  supersti- 
tion and  driveling  idolatry  he  announced  with  the  prophetic  fervor  of 
conviction  that  great  truth  which  has  ever  had  the  power  to  arrest  the 
attention  of  earnest  minds,  namely;  the  existence  of  one  only  and  true 
God,  supreme  in  His  ^vill  and  absolute  in  His  power.  With  the  music 
of  this  eternal  truth  Mohammed  has  held  the  attention  of  a large  por- 
tion of  the  Eastern  world  for  over  twelve  hundred  years.  This  one 
message  has  seemed  to  guarantee  him  as  a prophet  to  his  misguided  and 
uudiscriminating  followers.  Having  given  bonds,  as  it  were,  of  such 
overwhelming  value  in  this  one  supreme  truth,  men  have  not  been 
careful  to  scrutinize  in  other  respects  his  credentials  ; with  the  charm 
and  majesty  of  this  one  great  central  idea  of  all  religion,  he  has  swept 
all  before  him.  This,  in  connection  with  the  success  of  his  arms,  as 
his  followers  carried  on  in  his  name  their  successful  aggressive  warfare, 
has  been  his  passport  to  the  front  rank  of  religious  leadership  ; and 
although  he  hopelessly  forfeited  his  position  by  the  most  manifest 
signs  of  moral  weakness  and  human  ignorance,  yet  the  clarion  call  of 
“Xo  God  but  God  !'’has  held  the  ear  of  the  East  with  a constancy  at 
once  marvelous  and  pathetic.  It  was  considered  in  no  wise  to  his  dis- 
credit that  he  taught  what  is  practically  a plan  of  salvation  by  works 
based  upon  external  allegiance  to  a religious  creed,  and  it  rather  added 
to  his  popularity  with  his  Oriental  following  that  his  religion  officially 
sanctioned  polygamy,  slavery,  and  unlimited  divorce. 

The  Prophet  of  Mecca,  however,  was  simply  a religious  enthusiast 


12 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


with  a tendency  to  mysticism — a man  of  visions  and  dreams — with  a 
sensitive  and  imaginative  temperament  and  a disordered  physical  sys- 
tem, and  a nature  swayed  by  passions  and  lacking  in  moral  stamina, 
who  became  deeply  impressed  with  the  Jewish  conception  of  one  spir- 
itual God,  and  conceived  himself  a prophet  of  monotheistic  reform 
amidst  the  abounding  follies  of  idolatry.  Under  the  influence,  no  doubt, 
of  sincere  conviction,  he  began  to  teach  and  proclaim  the  religious  ideas 
which  had  lodged  in  his  mind  from  all  sources — Jewish  and  Christian 
and  heathen — and  shaped  them  into  the  rude  consistency  of  the  Mos- 
lem code.  He  can  hardly  be  considered  the  originator  of  the  religious 
reform  he  advocated.  lie  was  rather  the  exponent  of  a spirit  of  refor- 
mation which  seems  to  have  been  in  the  air  at  that  time.  The  move- 
ment at  first  did  not  seem  to  imply  more  than  a purely  religious  pur- 
pose. It  was  not  until  the  exigencies  of  his  success  led  him  to  adopt 
methods  of  expediency  and  worldly  policy  that  Mohammed  became  the 
political  schemer  and  the  ambitious  leader  of  a military  movement. 

II.  ^Mohammedanism  was  established  and  propagated  by  the  agency 
of  two  of  the  most  energetic  and  commanding  forces  of  human  history 
— the  power  of  moral  conviction  and  the  power  of  the  sword. 
In  addition  it  at  once  threw  its  mantle  of  protection  and  loyalty  over 
every  adherent,  and  acknowledged  him  as  a member  of  a Moslem  brother- 
hood in  which  all  are  equal,  and  all  can  expect  and  claim  the  help  and 
protection  of  all  others.  Islam  is  a religious  caste — so  much  so  that  in 
India,  the  land  of  castes,  it  exists  and  wins  its  converts  from  the  peo- 
ple of  India  without  any  disturbance  or  shock  to  the  claims  and  exac- 
tions of  tiie  spirit  of  caste.  It  is  an  immense  religious  monopoly — a 
gigantic  spiritual  corporation  whose  celestial  capital  is  of  unknown  pro- 
portions— a stupendous  combination  for  the  exclusive  handling  of  the 
commodities  of  Paradise.  It  is  an  actual  “ Brotherhood”  of  Moslems, 
a social,  political  and  religious  “Union”  of  knights  of  the  turban. 
With  the  exception  that  the  Sunnites  repudiate  the  Shiites  as  heretics, 
and  the  latter  return  the  compliment,  every  Moslem  befriends  and 
respects  every  other  Moslem  because  of  the  religious  affinity  which 
exists  between  them.  This  striking  feature  of  the  Moslem  religion  is 
to-day  one  of  the  most  powerful  forces  to  hold  Mohammedanism 
together  throughout  the  world. 

III.  Islam  has  never  known  or  seen  Christianity  except  in  its  cor- 
rupt and  semi-idolatrous  forms.  This  is  a damage  to  Christianity — a 
gain  to  Islam.  Mohammedanism  is  thus  enabled  to  appear  in  the  role 
of  a spiritual  religion  inviting  to  direct  communion  with  the  Deity, 
scorning  the  fiction  of  a human  priesthood  as  in  any  sense  a necessary 
instrument  of  mediation  between  God  and  the  soul,  and  rebuking  idol- 
atry in  all  its  forms.  On  the  other  hand,  the  corrupt  Christianity  of 
the  East  seems  to  be  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  idolatry,  over- 
loaded with  superstitious  practices,  and  weighted  with  the  enormous 


tSLAil  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


13 


assumptions  of  the  Oriental  priesthood.  This  was,  and  is  still,  an  ele- 
ment of  weakness  to  Christianity  and  of  strengtli  to  Islam.  It  reduces 
the  spiritual  energy  and  convincing  power  of  Christianity  to  a mini- 
mum, and  gives  to  Islam  a vigor  and  assurance  and  a direct  hold  upon 
the  religious  nature  which  it  could  not  have  had  in  the  presence  of  a 
purer  form  of  Christianity.  Could  Islam  have  subdued  a Christianity 
filled  with  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Eeformation  ? Could  it  gain  its 
historic  victories  over  the  form  of  Christianity  found  in  our  American 
churches?  Most  assuredly  not  I The  power  of  a living  Christ  is  more 
tlian  a match  for  Islam  in  any  age  of  the  world  and  among  any  class 
of  people.  There  is  no  hope  that  the  Moslem  will  ever  be  converted 
to  Christianity  as  we  see  it  in  the  Greek  and  Papal  churches  of  the 
Orient.  There  is  an  ever  brightening  hope  that  a purer  and  more 
spiritual  form  of  Christianity  may  carry  conviction.  We  are  sure,  in 
fact,  that  God  will  never  use  any  other  agency  than  the  gospel  in  its 
purity  as  an  instrument  for  the  conversion  of  the  Moslem  world.  It 
is  with  this  conviction  tliat  Protestant  missions  in  the  Orient  have  been 
laboring  ever  since  their  entrance  into  the  field  to  establish  a pure 
Christianity  in  the  East,  that  a regenerated  Christianity  may  be  ready 
to  carry  conviction  to  hearts  hitherto  shut  and  barred  against  the  en- 
trance of  the  truth.  It  will  be  an  immense  gain  to  Christianity  as  a re- 
ligion, in  the  eyes  of  the  Moslem,  not  to  be  encumbered  with  the  odium 
of  image  and  picture  worship  as  we  see  it  in  the  Oriental  churches.  It  is 
at  present  a part  of  a Moslem’s  religion  to  despise  every  form  of  Chris- 
tianity with  which  he  has  come  in  contact.  It  is  only  as  he  becomes 
familiar  with  Protestant  forms  of  worship  and  thought  and  life  that 
he  begins  to  realize  that  there  is  not  necessarily  an  idolatrous  element 
and  a human  priesthood  associated  with  it. 

IV.  Islam  has  all  the  advantage  which  there  is  in  the  magnetic 
power  of  personal  leadership.  Christianity  has  Christ.  Islam  has 
Mohammed.  Such  a comparison  may  startle  and  half  offend  Christian 
sensibilities,  but  it  may  be  unwelcome  to  the  Moslem  for  a reason  pre- 
cisely opposite.  Mohammed  is  regarded  as  an  inspired  man  and  a 
divinely  sent  prophet  and  the  supreme  historical  personality  in  the 
religion  he  founded.  There  is  a magnetic  charm  about  the  prophet  of 
Islam  which  thrills  the  whole  Moslem  world.  They  believe  in  him 
and  are  ready  at  any  sacrifice  to  uphold  the  honor  of  his  name. 
Would  that  the  nominal  Christian  world — we  do  not  refer  here  to  the 
inner  circle  of  Christ’s  loving  followers — were  as  visibly  and  unreserv- 
edly loyal  to  the  honor  and  dignity  of  Christ’s  name  as  Islam  is  to  that 
of  her  prophet.  Imagine  the  city  of  Xew  York  thrown  into  a state  of 
dangerous  excitement  because  some  one  down  at  the  Battery  had 
cursed  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  any  Eastern  city  where  Moslems 
reside  the  improper  or  contemptuous  use  of  the  name  of  iMohammed 
in  public  would  produce  an  uproar  and  possibly  lead  to  violence  and 


14 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


bloodshed.  To  be  sure,  we  must  recognize  in  this  connection  the  dif- 
ference between  the  conservatism  of  civilization  and  the  fanaticism 
of  Eastern  devotees  ; yet  the  fact  remains  that  there  is  a public  and 
prevailing  respect  for  the  name  of  Mohammed  in  the  Moslem  world 
which  indicates  the  commanding  power  of  his  personality  among  his 
followers. 

V.  Islam  proposes  easy  terms  of  salvation  and  easy  dealings 
with  sin,  and  is  full  of  large  license  and  attractive  prom- 
ise to  the  lower  sensuous  nature.  The  shibboleth  of  “ISio 
God  but  God  ” is  the  password  to  the  skies.  Salvation  is  simplv 
the  provision  of  mercy  on  God's  part  for  all  true  Moslems.  It  is 
mercy  shown  because  of  works  done  and  as  a reward  for  loyalty. 
If  that  loyalty  is  crowned  by  martyrdom,  then  martyrdom  in  its 
turn  is  crowned  by  exceptional  rewards.  Holiness  as  an  element 
of  God’s  character  and  man’s  religious  life  is  a very  vague  and 
shadowy  matter  to  the  Moslem,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  his  view 
of  the  nature  of  sin.  This  is,  however,  quite  consistent  with  the  fact 
that  Islam  for  conscience  sake  insists  on  many  of  the  great  truths  of 
religion  such  as  faith  and  prayer,  God’s  absolute  sovereignty,  man’s 
moral  accountability,  a coming  judgment,  and  a future  state  both  of 
happiness  aud  retribution,  and  meanwhile  maintains  a formal  but  very 
indifferent  ethical  and  religious  code  which  it  strives  to  enforce.  It  is 
true,  nevertheless,  that  regeneration  and  moral  reformation — the  be- 
coming of  a “ new  creature,”  as  the  Scriptures  express  it,  is  not  a doc- 
trine or  a practical  outcome  of  the  Moslem  religion.  Regeneration  is 
not  a password  to  the  Mohammedan  heaven.  *‘Ye  must  be  born 
again  ” is  not  an  essential  of  his  creed.  Transformation  of  character 
is  to  him  simply  a metaphysical  fiction,  and  legal  justification  by  the 
merits  of  Christ  is  an  absurdity.  Hawthorne’s  charming  literary  fic- 
tion of  a celestial  railway  is  a suggestive  illustration  of  the  Moslem 
theory  of  salvation.  Every  good  Mohammedan  has  a perpetual  free 
pass  over  that  line  which  not  only  secures  to  him  personally  a safe 
transportation  to  Paradise,  but  provides  for  him  upon  his  arrival  there 
so  luxuriously  that  he  can  leave  all  the  superfluous  impedimenta  of 
his  earthly  harem  behind  him  and  begin  his  celestial  career  with  an 
entirely  new  outfit. 

We  e.xpress  no  astonishment  that  Mohammed  did  not  teach  these 
high  mysteries  of  religion,  nor  do  we  charge  him  with  any  deliberate 
purpose  to  deceive  and  play  the  part  of  an  imposter  ; we  simply  point 
to  the  absence  of  these  unique  and  essential  features  of  revealed  truth 
•as  an  evidence  that  his  scheme  of  religion,  and  his  method  of  salvation, 
are  merely  human  conceptions,  and  that  his  soul  was  not  taught  of 
God  in  the  things  of  the  kingdom.  The  light  which  shone  around 
him  was  a broken  and  darkened  reflection  of  divine  revelation,  which 
he  proceeded  to  focus  as  best  he  could  with  the  lens  of  human 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSION'S. 


15 


reason.  He  brought  the  scattered  rays  to  the  burning  point  in  his 
doctrine  of  “ one  God/’ but  the  result  was  God  and  Mohammed — 
not  the  eternal  truth  revealed  in  its  true  setting  by  the  inspired 
guidance  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  but  distorted  by  the  unguided  pre- 
sumption of  the  human  medium. 

VI.  Islam  comes  into  conflict  with  the  doctrinal  teachingsof  Christian- 
ity just  at  those  points  where  reason  has  its  best  vantage  ground 
in  opposition  to  faith.  The  doctrines  which  Islam  most  strenuously 
opposes  and  repudiates  in  Christianity  are  confessedly  the  most  profound 
mysteries  of  the  faith.  They  are  the  great  problems  over  which  Chris- 
tianity herself  has  ever  pondered  with  amazement  and  awe  and  with 
reference  to  which  there  has  been  the  keenest  discussion  and  the 
largest  reserve,  even  within  the  ranks  of  professed  believers.  The  In- 
carnation, the  Divinity  of  Christ,  the  Trinity,  are  all  stumbling  blocks 
to  the  Moslem  and  are  looked  upon  rather  in  the  light  of  ridiculous 
enigmas  than  sober  truths.  The  doctrine  of  the  Cross,  the  whole 
conception  of  atonement,  is  to  his  mind  a needless  vagary.  Divine 
mercy,  in  his  view,  is  ample  enough  and  can  act  freely  and  promptly  in 
the  case  of  all  Moslems  without  the  mysterious  mediation  of  a vicarious 
sacrifice.  That  the  Incarnate  Christ  should  die  upon  the  cross  as  a 
sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men  is  to  his  mind  an  absurdity  which  borders 
upon  blasphemy.  It  is  in  vain  you  attempt  to  solve  these  mysteries  by 
a refined  theory  of  Christ’s  exalted  personality  with  its  two  natures  in 
one  person.  It  is  to  his  mind  simply  unfathomable,  and  he  dismisses 
the  whole  subject  of  Christ’s  unique  position  and  work  as  taught  in 
the  Bible  with  a feeling  of  impatience  as  only  one  of  many  Christian 
superstitions.  We  think  it  was  John  Bunyan  who  once  said  when  he  saw 
a criminal  led  to  execution  : “ There,  but  for  the  grace  of  God, 
goes  John  Bunyan.”  As  we  think  of  this  attitude  of  the  Moslem  to- 
wards the  mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  measure  the  capacity 
of  our  own  unaided  reason  to  deal  with  such  themes  as  these,  who  of 
us  is  not  ready  to  exclaim  : “ This  is  probably  just  the  attitude  which 
my  own  darkened  and  finite  reason  would  take  were  it  not  for  the 
guidance  of  God’s  revealed  Word?”  These  mysteries  of  the  Trinity,  of 
God  in  the  flesh,  and  of  Christ  upon  the  Cross  are  the  most  amazing 
revelations  of  the  Infinite  to  the  finite  mind,  and  it  is  only  as  faith 
aids  and  supports  reason  that  they  will  be  trustfully,  joyfully  and 
gratefully  received.  The  Moslem  objects  also  to  Christian  morality, 
and  regards  it  as  an  impracticable  ideal  which  he  never  found  exempli- 
fied in  all  the  Christianity  he  ever  knew  anything  about.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  ethical  standards  and  the  constant  practice  of  a large  part  of 
the  Christian  laity  and  the  Christian  priesthood  of  all  ranks  in  the 
Orient  is  a sad  confirmation  of  his  theory  that  Christianity  is  a shabby 
piece  of  hypocrisy — impossible  in  doctrine  and  in  practice  a shallow 
sham. 


16 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


Let  US  pause  for  a moment  in  review  and  quietly  take  the  measure 
of  this  foe.  Remember  that  Islam  in  its  origin  and  in  its  subsequent 
contact  with  Christianity,  was  the  spirit  of  reformation  inspired  by 
high  enthusiasm  grasping  a great  religious  truth  and  contending  for 
it  in  the  face  of  soul-degrading  and  soul  destroying  idolatiy.  I verily 
believe,  if  you  and  I had  lived  in  those  times  amidst  the  dark  idolatry 
of  Arabia  and  had  possessed  the  conviction  and  the  courage  we  would  have 
sprung  to  the  banner  of  Mohammed,  and  would  have  been  thrilled 
with  the  thought  that  there  was  no  God  but  God,  and  probably  we 
should  have  been  captivated  with  the  idea  that  iMohammed  was  a 
leader  sent  of  God.  The  unity  and  supremacy  of  God  is  to-day  the 
central  truth  of  the  Moslem’s  creed,  in  the  recognition  of  which  he 
subdues  his  soul  and  prostrates  his  body,  and  with  a feeling  of  pro- 
found conviction  says  : ‘‘La  ilah  ilia  Ullah  ! ” Remember  again  the 
fiery  energy  of  the  Moslem  and  the  marvelous  successes  of  his  arms 
and  his  practical  recognition  of  religious  brotherhood.  Remember, 
again,  that  he  has  never  been  famdiar  with  anything  but  a corrupt  and 
scandalous  Christianity.  Remember  the  charm  and  power  of  that  his- 
toric personality  of  the  Prophet  of  Islam.  Remember  its  offer  of 
immediate  access  to  God  and  a free  and  exclusive  salvation  to  all  loyal 
adherents.  Remember  its  liberal  margin  for  human  faults  and  pas- 
sions and  the  fact  that  it  lays  no  violent  hands  upon  sins  of  the  flesh. 
Remember  the  Paradise  it  pictures  to  the  sensuous  Oriental  imagina- 
tion. Remember  that  it  makes  its  issue  with  Christianity  and  puts 
forward  its  assumptions  of  superiority  just  at  those  ])oints  ivhere  the 
weak  and  finite  reason  of  man  is  most  inclined  to  falter  and  yield, 
and  where  Christianity  advances  truths  which  only  a God-taught  faith 
can  receive  and  grasp,  and  which  have  always  been  attacked  with  equal 
vehemence  by  human  philosophy  and  rationalistic  criticism.  Remem- 
ber, moreover,  that  Islam  has  always  regarded  Christianity  as  cowed 
and  defeated,  and  that  Reformed  Christianity,  with  its  spiritual  weap- 
ons and  its  resources  of  grace  and  its  heavenly  alliances,  has  never 
fairly  grappled  with  Mohammedanism,  and  that  every  energy  of  both 
state  and  church  will  be  in  array  to  prevent  the  very  entrance  of  Chris- 
tianity into  the  field,  and  will  seek  to  hold  the  Moslem  world  intact  by 
every  resource  of  irresponsible  power.  If  we  bear  in  mind  also  that  in 
the  Turkish  Empire  at  least  every  defection  from  the  Moslem  ranks  is 
looked  upon  in  the  same  light  as  a desertion  from  the  army,  we  can 
form  some  conception  of  the  gigantic  task  and  the  heroic  opportunity 
God  is  preparing  in  the  near  future  for  the  Christian  church.  Chris- 
tianity in  her  historic  childhood  was  called  upon  to  contend  with  the 
colossal  power  of  the  heathen  Roman  Empire.  She  was  victorious, 
although  her  resources  were  limited  and  her  opponent  was,  to  all  hu- 
man judgment,  unconquerable.  Let  her  not  think  now  in  her  splendid 
maturity,  with  her  imperial  resources,  her  heavenly  Leader,  her  gracious 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


1^ 


mission,  and  witli  the  crying  needs  and  the  pressing  problems  and  the 
deepening  conflicts  of  this  nineteenth  century  challenging  her  attention, 
that  her  warfare  is  accomplished  and  she  can  disband  her  forces. 
Islam  and  all  else  arrayed  in  opposition  must  first  give  place  to  Chris- 
tianity. Our  Lord  is  even  now  leading  His  church  to  this  battle 
ground  of  sublime  privilege  and  high  responsibility.  His  leadership 
is  our  inspiration.  His  promises  our  hope.  His  power  our  trust.  His 
glory  and  supremacy  our  aim  and  the  only  possible  outcome  of  the 
contest. 

Christian  missions,  as  related  to  Mohammedanism  and  the  mission- 
ary activity  of  Islam  are  just  now  live  themes  among  readers  of  our 
current  literature  in  Europe  and  America.  A prolonged  and  vigorous 
debate  has  arisen  in  the  periodicals  of  our  day,  and  more  especially  in 
Church  of  England  circles,  upon  this  subject,  arising  from  a paper  pre- 
sented by  Canon  Taylor  at  the  Church  of  England  Congress  in  1887. 
His  exaggerated  statements  of  the  present  progress  of  Islam  have  been 
fully  answered  by  Sir  William  Hunter.  We  shall  discuss  here  only  his 
ideal  views  of  Islam  as  a religion.  The  whole  field  is  now  being 
searched  and  discussed  by  both  the  friends  and  critics  of  missions. 
Aside  from  the  literary  and  historic  interest  which  Oriental  students 
would  find  in-  the  discussion,  the  whole  subject  of  the  propriety,  neces- 
sity and  usefulness  of  Christian  missions  to  Moslems  has  come  to  the 
front  in  the  debate.  It  is  a matter  which  under  present  couditious 
fairly  challenges  the  attention  of  Christendom,  and  as  our  American 
Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches  have  important  and  very 
successful  missions  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  the  stronghold  of  the  Mos- 
lem faith,  it  is  a subject  of  interest  also  to  American  Christianity.  Our 
American  churches  have  at  present  a constituency  of  70,000  Protestant 
adherents  to  their  mission  churches  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  including 
Syria  and  Egypt.  Of  this  number  15,200  are  upon  the  roll  of  church 
membership,  and  additions  to  the  church  at  present  are  at  the  rate  of 
about  1,500  every  year.  There  are  six  American  colleges  in  the  em- 
pire with  1,200  students,  and  700  mission  schools  with  40,000  pupils. 
The  Bible  has  been  translated  by  American  missionaries  into  every 
prominent  language  of  the  empire,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  copies  are 
annually  sold.  The  mission  presses  in  Turkey,  including  Syria,  print 
not  less  than  40,000,000  of  pages  of  religious  and  educational  litera- 
ture every  year,  including  over  20,000,000  of  pages  of  the  Word  of 
God.  These  converts  of  whom  I have  spoken  are  not,  however,  from 
the  Moslems — they  are  from  the  Oriental  Christian  churches,  among 
which  a reformation  work  is  going  on  and  a purer  form  of  Christianity 
is  being  established.  There  are  converts  from  Islam  to  Christianity 
in  India  and  in  Egypt,  but  Moslem  converts  in  any  numbers  cannot 
openly  at  least  be  won  as  yet  within  the  limits  of  the  Turkish  Empire, 
for  the  government  will  not  allow  the  effort  to  be  made  ; nor  is  a Mos- 


18 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


lem’s  life  safe  for  an  hour  (except  perhaps  in  Egypt)  if  he  openly  becomes 
a Christian.  It  is  hard  to  convince  when  conviction  means  death  ; it  is 
hardly  possible  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of  martyrdom  before  conviction. 
The  Turkish  government,  just  at  present,  is  in  a state  of  very  lively 
suspicion  with  reference  to  this  growing  and  expanding  work  of  Amer- 
ican missionaries.  The  Turkish  authorities,  from  the  Sultan  down- 
wards, are  beginning  to  feel  that  Islam  has  more  to  fear  fi’om  the  quiet 
growth  and  the  expanding  influence  of  missionai-y  institutions  than 
from  any  other  opposing  force.  They  find  themselves  suddenly  con- 
fronted with  churches,  colleges,  schools,  hospitals,  Bibles  in  the  ver- 
nacular, and  presses  fi-om  which  flow  such  a stream  of  permanent  and 
periodical  literature  that  they  are  fairly  bewildered,  and  lament  the 
day  that  missionary  agencies  were  admitted  to  the  empire.  It  will,  no 
doubt,  become  more  and  more  evident  that  God's  purpose  contem- 
plates not  simply  the  reformation  of  Oriental  Christianty,  but  the 
establishment  of  a basis  of  operations  for  that  far  more  inspiring  and 
formidable  task  of  which  I forbear  to  sjieak  here  in  any  further 
detail. 

The  paper  of  Canon  Taylor,  as  coming  from  a Christian  clergyman, 
was  remarkable  for  its  exaltation  of  Mohammedanism,  and  in  his  sub- 
sequent articles,  published  chiefly  in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  he  has 
shown  scant  courtesy  to  missions  which  he  has  caricatured  and  mis- 
represented. The  main  points  of  his  position  in  the  paper  on  Mo- 
hammedanism may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows  : He  contends  that 

Islam  demands  the  consideration  and  esteem  of  the  Christian  church, 
since  it  is  in  essence  an  imperfect  or  undeveloped  Christianity,  and 
may  bo  regarded  as  preparatory  to  an  advanced  Christian  faith.  It 
must,  in  his  opinion,  be  looked  upon  as  a religious  position  half  way  be- 
tween .ludaism  and  Christianity,  and  being  more  cosmopolitan  and 
less  exclusive  than  Judaism,  and  missionary  in  its  activities,  it  helps  on 
in  the  general  direction  of  Christianity  wherever  it  wins  converts  from 
heathen  communities.  In  fact,  it  must  be  considered,  according  to  his 
judgment,  as  an  advanced  guard  of  Christian  missions — not  antagon- 
istic to  the  gospel,  but  fighting  at  the  outposts  the  same  battle  against 
heathenism  with  weapons  on  the  whole  rather  better  and  more  effect- 
ive than  those  wielded  by  Christianity.  He  contends  that  it  leads 
men  from  the  darkness  and  degradation  of  pure  heathenism,  with  its 
superstitions  and  cruelties,  to  an  intelligent  conception  of  one  God,  and 
gives  them  a simple  and  comprehensive  view  of  His  attributes  and 
dealings  with  men,  and  the  duties  He  requires  of  them.  It  leads  them, 
moreover,  into  an  attitude  of  human  brotherhood  with  their  fellow- 
men,  and  brings  them  into  league  with  each  other  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  a common  religious  faith.  He  contends  that  Islam  contains 
and  teaches  all  the  morality  that  heathen  and  barbarous  nations  could 
be  expected  to  receive  and  practice.  It  represents  what  he  regards  as 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


19 


the  high-water  mark  of  practical  morality  and  intelligible  doctrine 
among  Oriental  nations,  and  as  such  should  be  supported  and  encour- 
aged by  Christianity,  hoping  for  better  things  further  on,  Islam,  in 
his  opinion,  is  divine  as  far  as  it  goes;  it  is  at  once  a successful  illustra- 
tion and  a happy  outcome  of  the  law  of  expediency,  representing  an 
imperfect  possibility,  which  is  better  practically  than  an  impossible 
ideal.  In  view  of  these  considerations  he  advocates  that  Christianity 
should  join  hands  with  Islam  and  establish  a modus  vivendi  on  the 
basis  of  mutual  concession  and  recognition. 

This  is  an  attractive  position  with  a large  class  of  minds  who  are 
willing  to  rank  the  gospel  as  only  one  of  a dozen  religion?.  With 
them  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  its  exclusive  claims,  its  unique 
glories,  its  adaptation  and  efficacy  as  the  only  religion  Avhich  saves,  are 
still  open  questions.  What  religion  should  be  taught  to  men  becomes, 
therefore,  a mere  question  of  expediency  and  availability.  An  effect- 
ive accommodation  in  the  light  of  human  wisdom  is  with  them  as  ser- 
viceable in  religion  as  in  anything  else.  The  gospel  may,  therefore, 
be  manipulated  into  a compromise  "with  any  other  religion  if  it  is  a 
workable  scheme. 

To  this  it  may  be  replied,  why  does  not  this  general  plan  Avhich 
Canon  Taylor  advocates  with  reference  to  Islam  hold  also  with  refer 
ence  to  the  relations  of  Christianity  to  Judaism,  or  of  Protestantism  to 
the  Papacy,  and  more  especially  to  the  Greek  and  Armenian  churches? 
Why  does  it  not  apply  in  theory  to  the  relations  of  Christianity  to  all 
religions  of  the  East?  It  should  be  noted  here  that  Canon  Taylor 
seems  to  regard  all  reformation  of  existing  Christianity  in  the  Orient, 
and  even  throughout  the  world,  as  a needless  and  wasteful  exjiendi- 
ture  of  money  and  labor,  as  he  speaks  ivith  great  disparagement  of  all  at- 
tempts to  “ proselyte”  from  the  Oriental  Christian  churches.  He  would 
apparently  leave  apostate  Christianity  in  its  decay  and  degradation, 
and  extend  the  hand  of  brotherhood  even  to  Islam.  We  must  pause 
to  ask  here — would  Christ  approve  ? Would  the  Bible  sanction  ? The 
simple  answer  may  be  given  in  the  ivords  of  I’aul,  “ If  I or  an  angel 
from  heaven  preach  any  other  gospel  than  that  ivhich  I have  preached 
to  you,  let  him  be  accursed.”  God  has  given  us  the  gospel ; it  is  the 
duty  of  the  church  to  preach  and  teach  the  religion  of  Christ  and  no 
other.  It  is  a mistake  to  regard  Christianity  as  an  impossible  ideal, 
nor  can  we  consider  Islam  as  a step  towards  Christianity.  It  is  rather 
an  attitude  of  pronounced  opposition  to  Christianity,  and  not  to  Chris- 
tianity only,  but  to  civilization  and  to  all  social  and  intellectual  and 
spiritual  progress. 

It  is,  however,  the  part  both  of  Avisdom  and  courtesy  to  give 
to  Islam  all  the  credit  it  deserves  ; to  acknoAvledge  its  influence  in  the 
Avorld  as  an  anti-heathen  reform  ; to  place  it  high  in  the  scale  of  his- 
toric failures  on  the  part  of  human  Avisdom  to  establish  a religion  to 


20 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


supersede  the  gospel ; to  acknowledge  its  skillful  adaptation  to  an 
Oriental  constituency  ; to  recognize  the  truth  which  it  contains  and 
the  natural  basis  which  it  affords  for  a work  of  supernatural  grace  and 
spiritual  enlightenment  through  the  revealed  Word  applied  by  the 
Spirit ; to  recognize  every  excellence  of  personal  character  which  may 
be  found  in  individual  Moslems  of  the  more  serious  and  devout  type. 
No  one  can  do  all  this  more  easily  than  a Christian  missionary  living 
in  Moslem  lands.  When,  however,  it  comes  to  the  question  of  his 
duty  and  responsibility  as  a religious  teacher,  every  consideration  of 
loyalty  and  high  obligation  requires  him  to  teach  only  the  gospel  of 
his  Divine  Master.  This  is  his  supreme  privilege,  his  sublime  mission, 
and  his  inexorable  task.  No  Christian  missionary  is  sent  to  the  Mos- 
lem world  to  establish  a treaty  of  peace  M'ith  Islam.  He  is  sent  there 
to  carry  the  gospel  of  salvation  to  the  perishing  Moslem.  He  is  God’s 
messenger  to  a deluded  people.  The  jireaching  of  the  Cross,  which, 
of  course,  is  an  offense  to  the  Moslem  as  it  was  to  Jew  and  Gentile  of 
old,  is  the  very  business  which  brings  him  there.  He  must  endeavor 
to  accomplish  this  delicate  mission  with  tact  and  wisdom,  and  must  be 
patient  and  courteous  and  courageous  ; but  he  has  not  the  slightest 
authority  from  God  or  man  to  depart  from  his  instructions  or  enter 
into  any  questionable  compromises.  He  is  an  ambassador  of  the  Cross, 
not  an  apologist  for  the  Crescent. 

The  question  of  method  is,  no  doubt,  a pressing  one,  and  upon  this 
point  Christian  missionaries  all  over  the  world  are  seeking  guidance 
and  would  be  grateful  for  light.  One  thing,  however,  is  certain  : no 
method  can  be  tolerated  which  lowers  the  standards  of  the  gospel,  or 
compromises  its  truths,  or  places  a human  religion  on  the  same  plane 
with  the  one  divine  religion  ; nor  would  such  a method  be  fruitful  in 
any  results  of  solid  or  permanent  value. 

This  is  most  assuredly  the  spirit  of  all  our  American  missionaries  in 
the  Orient.  They  look  to  the  Christian  churches  at  home  to  sustain 
and  encourage  them  in  this  theory  of  Christian  missions  to  Mohamme- 
dans. They  hope  for  the  sympathy  and  prayers  of  Christ’s  people  as 
they  endeavor  to  work  on  upon  these  lines.  It  is  time  for  the  Chris- 
tian public  of  America  to  be  intelligently  and  profoundly  interested  in 
the  religious  development  of  Oriental  nations,  and  especially  in  the 
problem  of  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  Islam  and  the  duty  of  the 
church  of  Christ  to  Moslems.  Let  us  study  this  question  in  the  light 
of  history  and  with  a living  sympathy  in  the  welfare  of  200,000,000  of 
our  race.  Consider  the  desperate  nature  of  the  undertaking,  and  how 
the  honor  of  Christ  is  involved  throughout  the  whole  Eastern  world. 
Watch  the  developments  of  the  Eastern  question  as  one  which  holds  in 
focus  the  most  burning  problems  of  European  diplomacy.  Note 
the  rapid  movements  of  European  governments  in  taking  possession 
of  the  territory  of  Africa,  more  than  one-half  of  which  is  now  in  their 


ISLAM  A>’D  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


21 


control.  Watch  the  tightening  grip  of  Christian  civilization  upon  the 
African  slave  trade,  which  is  the  most  hideous  scandal  of  our  century 
and  is  almost  entirely  the  work  of  Arab  Mohammedans.  Take  a broad 
outlook  over  the  field  where  are  gathered  the  momentous  interests  in- 
volved in  this  Mohammedan  problem,  and  let  us  have  the  prayers  of 
Christendom  in  the  interests  of  Christ’s  kingdom  and  its  blessed  reign. 
Within  the  memory  of  living  men  the  Christian  church  was  praying 
for  open  doors  in  Asia  and  throughout  the  heathen  world.  To-day  the 
church  is  sending  her  missionaries  through  a thousand  avenues  into 
the  heart  of  heathendom.  Let  us  have  another  triumph  of  prayer. 
If  the  church  of  Christ  will  march  around  this  mighty  fortress  of  the 
Mohammedan  faith  sounding  her  silver  trumpets  of  prayer,  it  will  not 
be  long  before,  by  some  intervention  of  divine  power,  it  will  be  over- 
thrown. Let  it  be  one  of  the  watchwords  of  our  church  in  these  clos- 
ing decades  of  the  19th  century,  that  Christ,  the  Child  of  the  Orient 
and  the  divine  Heir  of  her  tribes  and  kingdoms,  shall  possess  His  in- 
heritance. The  Moslem  world  shall  be  open  to  the  gracious  entrance 
of  the  Saviour  and  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel.  The  spell  of  twelve 
centuries  shall  be  broken.  That  voice  from  the  Arabian  desert  shall 
no  longer  say  to  the  church  of  the  living  God — thus  far  and  no  fur- 
ther. The  deep  and  "sad  delusion  which  shadows  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life  of  so  many  millions  of  our  fellow-men  shall  be  dispelled, 
and  tlie  blessed  life-giving  power  of  Christ’s  religion  shall  supplant  the 
dead  forms  and  the  outworn  creed  of  Islam. 


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